Bronx River Parkway On an Endangered List

By ROBERTA HERSHENSON

Published: June 18, 1995

WHITE PLAINS—
A SUBURBAN parkway might seem far removed from a Hawaiian war memorial, a historic island along the coast of Georgia and an old wagon trail in Wyoming. But the Bronx River Parkway, along with 10 other sites nationwide, has been named one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Speaking at a meeting of the County Board of Legislators here last Monday, Frank E. Sanchis 3d, a vice president of the Washington-based trust, said plans that could lead to widening and straightening the 70-year-old parkway -- the first of its kind in the country and possibly the world -- threatened to destroy its bucolic character.

"Safety is an issue, but the Bronx River Parkway deserves special consideration," he said of the road, which is traveled by more than 40,000 cars a day.

The Bronx Parkway Commission was formed in 1907 in an effort to combine sewage control in the Bronx River with the establishment of a linear park for New York City residents. The winding road, with its 60 footbridges and extensive plantings (140,000 shrubs and 30,000 trees), served as a model for future roadways, including the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut and the Mount Vernon and Colonial Parkways in Virginia.

In his book "American Architecture: Westchester County, N.Y.," published in 1977 by North River Press, Mr. Sanchis, an architect and Peekskill resident, described the innovations that distinguished the Bronx River Parkway when it was dedicated in 1925. One, "The complete separation of the northbound and southbound lanes, with each roadway proceeding independently of the other around existing topographical conditions," led to the now standard median strip in highways worldwide.

The first rigid-frame, metal bridge in the United States was built on the extension of the parkway -- now the Taconic State Parkway -- just below Briarcliff Manor. But the parkway's superintendent of construction, Gilmore D. Clarke, was as interested in what he called "a touch of the artistic" as he was in structural innovation. The bridges are marked by stone sheaths, graceful arches and turrets.

The speed limit in 1925 was 25 miles per hour. The speed limit on parts of the winding road is 40 m.p.h., but most drivers go faster as they travel what has become a commuter's route to Manhattan. Over the years there has been a clamor to straighten the parkway to cut down on accidents, but an increasing number of residents have joined in an effort to preserve it as is.

"The pressures are great," said County Legislator Katherine S. Carsky, who began holding public meetings on the parkway's fate in 1992. Mr. Sanchis said the National Trust was concerned about two proposed projects: the destruction or abandonment of the Woodlands Viaduct in Scarsdale, and the extension of Grove Street to Tarrytown Road near the County Center -- a plan that would intersect the parkway here. He offered the county the trust's technical assistance in finding safer alternatives to both plans.

"We can accommodate modern needs to older buildings," he said. "We can accommodate our older roadways to modern uses. We are an automobile-crazy nation, but the history of our roads is as important as our buildings."

The National Trust issues a new list of endangered places each year. Some other sites named this year are the Farish Street Historic District in Jackson, Miss.; the Ashley River Historic District in Charleston and Dorchester Counties, S.C.; the Colorado Plateau in the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, and Washington Street, the former theater district of Boston.